I Wish I Were The Rain
by DrowningInTearsOfCrimson
Summary: Oh, this is one of my favorites... I apologize if it's a bit hard to follow, but ff.net doesn't do certain tags for me, so I had to format it like this.... Gomen nasai minna-san...


_Authoress: Michelle C._

_Date: February 7, 2003_

_Series: Ranma½_

_Disclaimers: I do not own this song, "I Wish I Were the Rain". It belongs to the wonderful group, SHeDAISY._

_I also don't own… *looks around* um… *Spots Ryoga* Oh, here we go. This sweetie pie right here *hold up and unconscious Ryoga by the scruff of his neck and dangles him* and Ucchan's Okonomiyaki shop belongs to Ukyo and um… Ukyo belongs to Rumiko Takahashi-san!_

_Authoress' Notes: This is like a sad-like story. I don't want Ryoga to die (and I really hope that he doesn't in the Anime later) but I really, really, really love this song and this idea kinda came to me when I was listening to it for like the 5th time in a row… Plus, it fit my mood. And you know me, angst, drama, and romance freak. No… Freak. Period. Okay. Enough with my ramblings. Let's start…_

_­Key:_

_{Words} = song lyrics_

_"Words" = dialogue_

_'Words' = thoughts_

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ = scene change_

I Wish I Were The Rain 

            'Ryoga… No!…' a teenage girl thought frantically. Suddenly, she thrashed around on her bed and fell off. 'Ryoga…' She abruptly sat up, panting. Dried tears streaked down her face as she looked around. Seeing where she was, she burst into tears again. 'Oh my… Ryoga… Why… You…' she said, sobbing hysterically again.

            "Ryoga!!" she yelled into the night.

_{You said I bled}_

_{You meant, I went}_

_{Overcomplicated, spent}_

_{Love's a series of broken sentences}_

_{Miscalculations, reconciliations}_

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Flashback~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

            _"Hey, Ucchan," Ryoga said, "this is probably the best okonomiyaki you've ever made!"_

            _"Really, Sugar?" she asked him, surprised._

            _"Yup," he said, leaning over the counter and giving her a light kiss. "Definitely the best," he said smiling._

            _"Wow," she said giggling. "If I get a kiss like that every time I make good okonomiyaki, then I'd better make more. And," she continued, turning her attention back to the grill, "with that appetite, I'm gonna have to get more ingredients too. Between you and Ranchan, you guys could eat me into bankruptcy."_

            _At the mention of his rival's name, Ryoga growled lowly. Ukyo laughed, "I thought you and Ranchan were friends now, Sugar, ne?"_

            _Ryoga smiled sheepishly. "Force of habit?"_

            _Ukyo grinned. "Did I ever tell you that you are really silly?"_

            _Ryoga grinned as well. "Did I ever tell you that I love you?" he asked, walking behind the counter and towards the grill where Ukyo was standing, giving her a long, passionate kiss that sent tingles up and down her spine._

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~End of Flashback~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

_{Seductive highs, destructive lows}_

_{Words that fly too fast}_

_{Feet that move too slow}_

_{Wish I could dance outside this windowpane}_

_{Oh, I wish I were the rain}_

            After weeks of crying and mourning, Ukyo had thought that Ryoga's death wouldn't be as painful as before. But she was wrong. Oh, boy, was she wrong…

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Flashback to Ukyo's dream~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

            _"R-Ryochan?" Ukyo asked softly, as if her voice low and calm would keep everything the way it was. "R-R-Ryoga… Is that you, Sugar?" she asked again uncertainly._

            _They were standing inside of Ucchan's Okonomiyaki shop, Ryoga's back to her. "Ryochan, what's wrong?" she asked as he turned around hurriedly and started running towards her. "Ryog—ah, aah!" she yelled as he pushed her out of the way just as a fiery wooden beam came crashing down on the spot that she was standing in only second ago. "Ryoga? Ryoga!" she cried as she saw his crumpled body under the rafter. "Oh gods… Ryoga…" she said as tears stung her eyes. She looked around and saw that all of Ucchan's was burning. The tables were on fire, the chairs were flaming, and the grill where she had been flipping okonomiyaki for all the time that she had lived in Nerima was starting to smell of burnt wood and cloth._

            _Ukyo reached her hand out towards Ryoga and crawled towards his pained face, coughing as she tried to avoid as much smoke as possible. "Ucch-chan…" Ryoga said, in pain, as part of the support beam cracked and applied more pressure to Ryoga's back. "Ucchan… I…" He struggled to stay awake as the smoke hid Ukyo from his line of vision._

            _"Yeah, Sugar. I'm right here," she said comfortingly as she held his hand, trying hard not to let her tears find their way to Ryoga in case it got him to worry more. "Shh… It's going to be alright," she said soothingly._

            _Ryoga coughed and chuckled a bit before he groaned in pain. "Ukyo," he said, surprising her a little. He never called her Ukyo anymore unless he was either very mad, or very serious. "Ukyo," he started again, coughing and hesitating a few times before continuing, "Ukyo, always remember this. I love you…"_

            _Another beam crashed behind them and Ryoga's large hand slipped away from Ukyo's own petite one. 'Not again… Ryoga… No!!'_

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~End of Ukyo's dream~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

            Shaking, whether from the dream or from the cold, Ukyo didn't know, she made her way downstairs into the kitchen. Still sniffling and shivering, Ukyo lit a single candle and set it down carelessly on the edge old-fashioned table and sat down in one of the chairs surrounding it. Checkers came up to her slowly and licked her hand, trying to comfort her old owner's love. Absently, Ukyo reached down and pet Checkers on the head and the dog, satisfied in her own animalistic-like way, wagged her tail happily and curled up by Ukyo's feet.

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Flashback~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

            _Ukyo stood outside of her store, her own tears mingling with the ones coming from the Heavens. "Oh, gods…" she whispered, tasting the mixture of blood start to seep into her mouth._

            _"Ucchan?!" a boy in a braided pigtail asked worriedly as he ran up to her. He was dressed up in a dark blue Chinese shirt, decorated in dragons. Ukyo idly thought that it was probably wrinkled because of the way that Ranma always use to have unexpected guests drop by in the middle of the night, sneaking into his bed; Shampoo being the most common. "Oh gods, Ucchan… Are you okay?"_

            _Ukyo looked into the sky and blinked numbly as the rain hit her dark coffee-colored eyes. "Ryoga…" she murmured before she collapsed. Just before she hit the ground, Ranma ran the last few feet to her and caught her just as an ambulance siren's wail sounded from around the corner._

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

            _Groggily, Ukyo awoke a couple of hours later. Slowly, she blinked open her tired eyes. Blinding white lights obscured her vision for a few seconds before her eyes finally became use to the harsh lights. Gradually, she pushed herself up on the scratchy pillow with her elbows. A sharp, piercing pain shot through her whole body and even her scalp felt like it had burnt. 'Burnt…' she thought, her mind finally clicking. "Oh my God, Ryoga!" she screamed, trying to get out of bed, but instead, brought Ranma, Akane, and the rest of the Tendos into her small room._

            _"Ukyo…" Akane started soothingly._

            _"Oh my God, where's Ryoga?!" Ukyo asked, now hysterical._

            _"Ucchan…" Ranma said quietly from behind everyone else. They parted like a court, parting to the king, letting Ranma through. He walked up slowly and stood beside Ukyo's colorless bed. "Ucchan… he's dead."_

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~End of Flashback~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

            The flames licked at the area around the girl for only about five minutes, but that was enough. Suddenly noticing the heat around her, Ukyo snapped her head up. Her weary eyes slowly adjusted to the scene before her, Ryoga's house—_her_ house for the last few weeks—was burning. Fast. Ukyo sat there, senses almost like they were numbed. 'What…' she thought, almost leisurely. She let a small smile grace her lips. 'So it ends now…'

_{'Cause it can fall as hard as it wants to}_

_{Gingerly drip down a lover's face}_

_{Cry for hours and weeks on end}_

_{And never feel a bit out of place}_

_{And it can feed a field, put out a fire}_

_{And never feel the pain}_

_{I wish I were the rain}_

_{I wish I were the rain}_

_{I wish I were the rain}_

_{Oh yeah, I wish I were the rain}_

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Flashback~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

            _"What?" Ukyo asked, shock registering on her face._

            _"Ranma, you…" Akane walked up to him. "How can you be so insensitive?! You.. you…" she said before she broke down in sobs. Ranma reached over to her and wrapped his strong arms around his fiancée._

            _"It's going to be alright," he said, looking at the top of Akane's head, but directing his comment at Ukyo. "It's all going to be alright…" he said, burying his face in Akane's hair and hugging the person he loves most in the world._

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~End of Flashback~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

_{Don't speak, I'm weak}_

_{You cry, I lie}_

_{Overcompensation, why}_

_{Our arsenal of hope has been bled dry}_

_{Don't you wish that you could live outside the insane}_

_{Don't you ever wish for a free reign}_

            Ukyo stared at the flames, mesmerized by their ferocity. The fire was so relentless; everything it touched was slowly, bit by bit, being consumed. It was like a hungry tiger, eating everything in its fiery path, destroying; then again, if you look at it in its point of view, it wasn't destroying. It was growing. By eating others, by consuming, destroying, it was living, growing, expanding until it reaches the point where nothing can overcome it.

_{'Cause it can fall as hard as it wants to}_

_{Gingerly drip down a lover's face}_

_{Cry for hours and weeks on end}_

_{And never feel a bit out of place}_

_{And it can feed a field, put out a fire}_

_{And never feel the pain}_

_{I wish I were the rain}_

_{I wish I were the rain}_

_{I wish I were the rain}_

_{Oh yeah, I wish I were the rain}_

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Flashback~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

            _Ukyo fell back into the hospital bed, the memories suddenly flooding back into her head: the fire, the crash, Ryoga pushing her out of the way… 'Ryoga…' Ukyo thought as the tears flooded back into her eyes. He heart felt like it had been ripped out of her, the very soul of her existence, extinguished. Ryoga was her heart and soul, her love. Her angel, her savior._

When she found out that Ranma had finally told Akane that he loved her and she said the same in return, she had turned to perfection her art in cooking and worn herself out. Exhaustion had finally gotten the better of Ukyo Kuoji one day in the street and it was Ryoga who had found her and miraculously found his way back to his house as well. He had saved her not once, or even twice, but three times: once when he plucked her off the streets and took her into the comforts of his home, another time when he helped to heal her broken heart—saved her soul—with his understanding, for he loved Akane as much as she loved Ranma, and the last time, when he pushed her out of the way; when he pushed her out from under the rafters.

_And now, he was gone._

_Ukyo sobbed her heart out—or, rather, what was left of it. She was a shell because her heart died with Ryoga, her soul dissipated when Ryoga's left his body. Ukyo wept for the love that was meant to last eternity, but didn't._

_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~End of Flashback~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~_

_{The blistering, twisting, hard-fisted blows}_

_{Have drowned the once fervent glow}_

_{I wish I were the rain}_

            Ukyo stared for a few more moments at the flames and then sacrificed herself to them, feeding their ever-growing hunger, allowing them to take her soul up to the Heavens. 'Ryoga…' she thought with her last wisp of consciousness.

_{I can cry just like the rain, the rain}_

_{Rain, rain, rain}_

            "Ucchan?"

            "R-Ryochan?" Ukyo asked, wide-eyed. She stared at Ryoga for a moment longer before she threw herself into his arms. "Ryoga…" she said, looking into his eyes, "I love you."

            "And I you, Ukyo. I love you too…"

_{Yeah, I wish I were}_

_{I, I, I wish I were the rain}_

_{Fall down…}_

_{Down, down, down}_

_{Fall down,}_

_{Down, down, down}_

_{Rain, yeah…}_


End file.
